Improving body... Even more

[mario_silent]

Hello everyone! I have a chocolate stout that I've brewed twice with some good results but yesterday it was evaluated by a BJCP judge from my city and the tip I was given was to increase the body to which I agreed, since I tasted it at the same time and it felt kinda watery for a stout. Now I want a really really full bodied beer, like thick! So I went to the drawing board and was surprised to find that I have more than plenty body builders in there so... what would you recommend to make it happen? (I'ts all in pounds) I also want some residual sweetness since I'm adding bitter chocolate, that's why I went heavy with the caramel malts.

Pale 2row 6
Carapils 0.75
Crystal 40 0.7
Crystal 60 0.7
Chocolate 0.5
Flaked barley 1
Roasted Barley 1


Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[m00ps]

what temperature did you mash at and what yeast did you use? that will largely determine the body

that looks like it should produce a very sweet and full bodied beer if you do the rest of the brewing process right

 

[Biscuits]

Mabrungard has stated that mash pH has an effect on body as well.

I've found that low mash pH does increase the fermentability and reduces the body of beer. Overly low mash pH can be detrimental to beer quality and perception.

 

[poptarts]

What was FG? What is mash PH? whats the water profile look like?

 

[mario_silent]

Sorry sorry I missed a lot of details here. I mashed at 156 for an hour and 20 mins. Fermented with US05 at about 62 - 66 for 3 weeks, then bottled, primed and tasted after 2 weeks.
I don't have the water profile available, I use bottled water but here in Mexico those analysis are pretty much impossible as of now, I'll look into it when I can.

OG was 1.060
FG was 1.024

About 4.7 ABV

And yet, with that high FG it doesn't feel full bodied. That's what kinda gets to me :/

 

[JKaranka]

Gosh, that's a miracle if it doesn't feel full bodied! I can only think about water additions making much of a difference. Or increasing malts high in dextrins like crystal or brown.

 

[The_Bishop]

Why the 1:20 mash? That's probably got a bit to do with the thinner body.

 

[EJay]

Why the 1:20 mash? That's probably got a bit to do with the thinner body.

Yikes, that was my thought too. Sounds like everything else I can think of you're already doing.

I think maybe try a 45 min mash. A long mash gives so much time for those enzymes to chomp down on those sugars to make them smaller and more fermentable.

 

[mario_silent]

Interesting proposal of a 45 mins mash. I've been doing 1:20 mashes to allow for full conversion of starches but now that you mention it, I might give it a try with 45 or an hour only. Are 45 mins enough for full conversion? never tried such a short one.

And yes it sounds like a miracle that it doesn't feel full bodied! I might wanna check the gravity of a beer coming straight out of the bottle. Just came to me that maybe the gravity changed after bottle conditioning (More than it should at least).

Will have to brew this again (Oh, poor me )

 

[Yooper]

Interesting proposal of a 45 mins mash. I've been doing 1:20 mashes to allow for full conversion of starches but now that you mention it, I might give it a try with 45 or an hour only. Are 45 mins enough for full conversion? never tried such a short one.

And yes it sounds like a miracle that it doesn't feel full bodied! I might wanna check the gravity of a beer coming straight out of the bottle. Just came to me that maybe the gravity changed after bottle conditioning (More than it should at least).

Will have to brew this again (Oh, poor me )

Yes, a 20 minute mash is probably enough to convert at 156 degrees, but if you want to check you can always use some iodine to check for conversion.

I'd go with a 45 minute mash, assuming conversion has occurred, and then doing a mash out, bringing the grainbed to 168 degrees and holding it there for 15 minutes to make sure that conversion is halted (so that no further debranching of the sugars occurs).

 

[mario_silent]

Yes, a 20 minute mash is probably enough to convert at 156 degrees, but if you want to check you can always use some iodine to check for conversion.

I'd go with a 45 minute mash, assuming conversion has occurred, and then doing a mash out, bringing the grainbed to 168 degrees and holding it there for 15 minutes to make sure that conversion is halted (so that no further debranching of the sugars occurs).

Thanks a lot Lorena, I'll give it a try when I brew this again for sure!